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The Biggest, Latest News from Around the World Wide Web
A bona-fide member of the Fifth Estate, practicing Mobile Journalism (MoJo) every chance we get...
Communications Workers Protest Verizon Policies in Huntsville
Economists Project Sustained Economic Recovery, 7.9 Percent Unemployment by Election Day
Hiring through the rest of 2012 will lag the brisk pace set early this year. But it will be strong enough to push the unemployment rate below 8 percent by Election Day. That's the view that emerges from an Associated Press survey of 32 leading economists who foresee a gradually brighter jobs picture. Despite higher gas prices, Europe's debt crisis and a weak housing market, they think the economy has entered a "virtuous cycle" in which hiring boosts consumer spending, which fuels more hiring and spending. The survey results come before a report Friday on hiring during April, eagerly awaited because employers added surprisingly few jobs in March. But the economists think the recovery will manage to reduce unemployment to 7.9 percent by Election Day from 8.2 percent in March.
US Unemployment Applications Drop Sharply
President Addresses the Nation on Ending the Afghanistan War
President Barack Obama signed a historic agreement between the United States and Afghanistan on Tuesday that defines a new kind of relationship between the two countries -- a future in which Afghans are responsible for the security of their nation, and together they build an equal partnership between two sovereign states; a future in which war ends, and a new chapter begins, according to the president's address to the nation.
President Sees 'New Day' One Year After bin Laden Raid
Obama Administration and Alabama Agree: No Delay in BP Trial
The U.S. government said a trial to assign blame and damages among BP and others over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill should not be delayed until after a hearing over a $7.8 billion settlement of private party claims. BP has asked U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans to delay any trial over the spill until after he holds a November 8 fairness hearing over the settlement of more than 125,000 economic, property and medical claims. Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange, who coordinates state interests with his Louisiana colleague James "Buddy" Caldwell, said BP's requested delay is unfair to residents, and that any trial should begin this summer.
Rights Group Says US Asylum Likely for Chinese Dissident
UK Lawmakers Say Rupert Murdoch is Unfit to Lead Media Company
News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch must take responsibility for serious failings that caused Britain's tabloid phone hacking scandal, lawmakers said Tuesday in a scathing report - as a narrow majority also insisted the tycoon was unfit to lead his global media empire. In a report on the malpractice at Murdoch's now shuttered News of The World tabloid, legislators accused Murdoch and his son James of overseeing a corporate culture that sought "to cover up rather than seek out wrongdoing."
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In Case You Missed It
Politics, Government, Public Opinion
President Sees 'New Day' One Year After bin Laden Raid
President Obama Hits 50 Percent Approval, Leads Romney 49-42 Percent
Even Karl Rove's Math Shows President Obama in the Lead
House Approves Cybersecurity Bill Despite Veto Threat
House Caves to President Obama on Student Loan Rates
Legal News
Wal-Mart to Pay $4.8 Million in Back Wages
Nugent Pleads Guilty to Killing, Transporting Alaskan Bear
Ex-BP Engineer Arrested in Gulf Oil Spill Case
Scrushy's Lawyers Withdraw for Lack of Money
War, Intel, National Security
President Obama Makes Surprise Trip to Afghanistan
President to Target Foreign Nationals' Use of Technologies
US, Afghanistan Reach Deal on Strategic Pact
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Economy, Business, Labor, Technology
Dow Hits Highest Close Since 2007 on Strong Manufacturing Report
Report Says Facebook IPO Set for May 18
Senate Democrats Vote Down GOP Motion to Block Union Election Rule
Conservative Nonprofit ALEC Acts as a Stealth Business Lobbyist
Science, Health, Environment
Japanese Deep-Sea Drilling Probe Sets World Record
EPA Issues Final Air Rules for Oil and Natural Gas Industry
The Public Links Weather Extremes to Climate Change
Arts, Media, Education, Entertainment
Murdoch Admits Coverup at News of the World
The Media Distorts National Social Security Debate
Sports, Travel, Outdoors
President Obama Welcomes Alabama National Champs at White House
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Featured Political Stories, Photos and Videos
Federation of Teachers President Kicked Out of House Charter School Hearing
Alabama to Pay Convicts Prevailing Wages, but Outlaw Them for Construction Workers?
Republicans in the Alabama House of Representatives voted to move two bills out of committee this week that would outlaw the state government and any local government from establishing prevailing wages for skilled work on public works projects as required by federal law under the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931 on one hand, but provide prevailing wages for convicts working for private industry on the other.
AFL-CIO Challenges Radical Republican Legislative Agenda
Republican Legislators Push Charter Schools to Privatize Public Education
Fact Checking Republican Rick Santorum on Campaign Trail in Birmingham
Conservative Christian Rick Santorum, the former Pennsylvania Senator who is now running for the Republican nomination for president, took the stage at the Alabama Theater Monday night before the state's primary vote on Tuesday and told one lie after another to the fired up crowd of Republicans who want nothing more than to unseat President Barack Obama in November.
Fact Checking Republican Newt Gingrich
Selma-to-Montgomery March No Celebration of the Right to Vote This Year
MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- There was not supposed to be a major anniversary march this year to commemorate Bloody Sunday on March 7, 1965. It is only the 47th anniversary of that groundbreaking event in civil rights and American political history that led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act that year. Plans are in the works for a big event on the 50th anniversary in 2015. But even though black voters, union leaders and members, women and Hispanic groups were all heartened by the election of the first African-American president in U.S. history in 2008, that has not stopped an all out assault on voting rights, labor rights, immigrant rights and yes, human rights, by Republican politicians across the country. So organizers decided the crisis was so great this year, especially in Alabama, that they had better get together and do a march this year.
Protesters Descend on Statehouse in 'One Alabama' Rally
Senator Richard Shelby Answers Ethics Question
Federalist Society Hears From Conservative Voter Suppression Expert
Who Should the People of Alabama's Sixth Congressional District Trust?
There is evidence that Senator Scott Beason is not such a great businessman himself and is seeking to become one of those "career politicians" he likes to rail against. An investigation into Beason's business activities shows he may need his $50,000 a year legislative salary just to feed his family and make ends meet, because he is not such a successful businessman. According to financial disclosure forms filed with the Alabama Ethics Commission, Beason has never made more than $50,000 in a single year combined from his family renovations business, his public relations firm or a Planet Smoothie franchise he was a partner in on Birmingham's Southside in Five Points South. Sources say the Planet Smoothie went out of business in recent years and left unpaid rent behind. According to mandatory forms filed with the Alabama Ethics Commission and the Secretary of State's office, Beason disclosed interest in Southside Smoothie LLC from 2003-2011. He is listed as the "owner/operator" of the business.
Consumer Watchdog Makes Appearance in Birmingham
Why Working People Vote Against Their Economic Interests
Why do working class people in the South so frequently vote against their own economic self-interest? In answering the question a little more than 20 years after his book came out, retired Auburn History professor Wayne Flynt said some things you will never see reported by any newspaper or television news station in Alabama.
Featured Labor Stories, Photos and Videos
AFL-CIO Report Calls Immigration Law A 'Crisis in Alabama'
Labor Heavy Hitters On the Ground in Alabama's Immigration Battle
Heavy hitters from American labor are now on the ground taking a special interest in Alabama due to the growing controversy surrounding the state's draconian immigration law. An AFL-CIO sponsored delegation of union leaders actively engaged in the struggle for civil and human rights recently spent a day in Birmingham and Pelham getting a first-hand view of the law's impact by hearing from local community leaders and undocumented workers.
Alabama Miners Shut Down Coal Production, 1000 Rally in Birmingham
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The United Mine Workers of America declared a day of mourning on Monday and shut down all coal production for the entire state of Alabama to protest the anti-union budget cutting policies of the new Republican governor and GOP-controlled legislature. Daryl Dewberry's army of mine workers from District 20, covering most of the Southeast, packed the house with their signature camouflage T-shirts at the "We Are One" rally at Boutwell Auditorium.
VIDEO: United Mine Workers Shut Down Coal Production
The Big Picture: Long Live Organized Labor in America
Featured Environmental Stories, Photo Essays and Videos
Van Camping Along Highway 64 in the Birthplace of Conservation
Sitting in a camp chair in front of the computer by the French Broad River, one of those rare stretches of water that flows north -- from the Eastern Continental Divide through the Appalachian Mountains to Tennessee -- I witnessed a true optical illusion, without the need of a magician or a television set.
Slide Show Video: Wild South Mountain Excursion 2012
Slide Show: Wild South Oscar's 2011
Wild South Roosevelt-Ashe Society 2011 'Green Oscars'
Standards for Mercury Pollution from Power Plants Unveiled
Are We Learning the Lessons from BP's Oil Disaster in the Gulf?
When the British Petroleum corporation issued a press release announcing that the multinational behemoth would commit $1 billion for Gulf Coast restoration projects, every news organization in the world ran a story about it. But where were the reporters and editors asking the tough questions, such as: Is the $1 billion enough? What is the plan for restoration? What does the company and the government plan to restore?
Unanswered Questions Remain on the State of the Gulf Coast
Riki Ott Speaks at Orange Beach Public Health Forum
Robin Young, Like Thousands on the Gulf, Suffered 'BP Crud'
Wherever disaster strikes, there's always an associated crud. There was the Exxon Valdez Crud. The Nine Eleven Crud. The Katrina Cough, and then the TVA coal ash cough. Now, along the entire coast of the Gulf of Mexico, there is the BP Crud, afflicting workers and the general population from Louisiana to Florida.
Air Quality Along the Coast Raises Questions
Watchdogging BP Video: Oil Giant Restricts Press Access to Alabama Beach
BP's Oil Spill Will Have Major Environmental Impacts on the Gulf of Mexico
Interior Department Permitted Deep Horizon Without Impact Study
Ken Salazar, a former Senator and Attorney General of Colorado, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the 50th Secretary of the Interior on Jan. 20, 2009 by President Barack Obama. Less than three months later, on April 6, 2009, the British Petroleum company was granted a permit for the Deepwater Horizon, the deepest oil well ever dug in the Gulf of Mexico -- without an Environmental Impact Study as required by the National Environmental Policy Act. The Minerals Management Service, an agency of the Department of the Interior charged with regulating the oil and gas industry, has been ensconced in a ethics scandal in recent months for cozying up to the oil and gas industry. The agency granted BP a "categorical exclusion" to NEPA on the basis of three reviews of the area, which concluded that a massive oil spill was "unlikely," according to government documents.
Gulf Oil Slick One: A Glynn Wilson Video
Featured Nature Stories, Photos and Videos
Secret Vistas: A Film About the Lake Chinnabee Campground
Click Here or on the Image to Check Out the Archive on the Birds of Alabama
An Alabama yellow hammer, otherwise known as the Northern Flicker [colaptes auratus], and in the South, the yellow-shafted flicker since they have yellow tail feathers, which you can only see from certain angles. These birds have a special place in state lore going all the way back to the Civil War, and it is the state bird of Alabama.
Alabama has been known as the "Yellowhammer State" since the Civil War. The yellowhammer nickname was given to the Confederate soldiers from Alabama when a company of young cavalry soldiers from Huntsville, under the command of Rev. D.C. Kelly, arrived at Hopkinsville, Kentucky, where Gen. Forrest's troops were stationed. The officers and men of the Huntsville company wore fine, new uniforms, whereas the soldiers who had long been on the battlefields were dressed in faded, worn uniforms.
On the sleeves, collars and coattails of the new calvary troops were bits of brilliant yellow cloth. As the company rode past Company A, Will Arnett cried out in greeting "Yellowhammer, Yellowhammer, flicker, flicker!" The greeting brought a roar of laughter from the men and from that moment the Huntsville soldiers were spoken of as the "yellowhammer company." The term quickly spread throughout the Confederate Army and all Alabama troops were referred to unofficially as the "Yellowhammers."
When the Confederate Veterans in Alabama were organized they took pride in being referred to as the "Yellowhammers" and wore a yellowhammer feather in their caps or lapels during reunions. A bill introduced in the 1927 legislature by Representative Thomas E. Martin, Montgomery County, was passed and approved by Governor Bibb Graves on September 6, 1927, making it the state bird.
The tradition extends to the University of Alabama, where the famous Rammer Jammer Yellowhammer cheer has been around for decades. It bas banned in 2003, but students voted overwhelmingly at Homecoming 2005 to bring it back.
The Rammer Jammer was an old campus magazine at Alabama, and the yellowhammer is the state bird.
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